Key words:

GENES                            

DNA                             

HUMAN GENOMA                   

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

• If you cannot have a child, creating is a clone acceptable?
• Do you think all research into cloning should stop now?
• You cannot stop cloning now that it has begun. Do we need to establish rules for cloning?
• Is this Man's way of playing God?
• Will diversity in the future be lost if cloning is successful?
• Do you   support cloning animals for human organ transplants?
• NATURAL SELECTION – nature’s success story.... or not?

The Future of Cloning

A clone is a group of genetically identical cells. Scientists have been cloning plant life for many years, but the first adult mammal cloned was Dolly, a sheep, in 1996. Since Dolly, scientists have cloned cows, mice, and on March 5, 2000 in Scotland, the first pigs were cloned. The researchers feel that in the future, pig clones could become sources of organs for human organ transplants.

Many scientists worry that human cloning is coming soon, and many ethical questions need to be answered first. Would a human clone lose his or her sense of individuality? How would cloning affect parenting? Would some people use cloning to create the "perfect" human? Or perhaps the perfect warrior?

On the other side of the argument, clones are similar to identical twins. Twins can grow up to be quite different from each other. Clones would be influenced as much by society as any child.

Cloning could also provide babies for infertile couples and could help us learn about genetics and genetic diseases. Some scientists feel that these ethical questions must be answered before further research on human cloning is completed. Others, however, believe that cloning will be beneficial to humans. These people believe that cloning is simply being misunderstood, much the way heart transplants and in vitro fertilization (test-tube babies) were feared when they were introduced. What do you think?

The latent totipotency of adult mammalian nuclei suggests that it may be feasible to reprogram adult human cells for use in the treatment of disease. Thus, investigators may be able to develop strategies to facilitate the repair and regeneration of human tissues. Nucleo-cytoplasmic interactions that restore potency to differentiated cells are an important research focus with great potential in treating diseases such as cancer, diabetes and neurodegeneration.

Another potential application of mammalian cloning is the production of clones of genetically-engineered domestic animals, such as sheep, pigs and cattle. For example, bovine nuclei could be engineered so that medically-significant proteins would be selectively secreted into the milk of cattle produced by nuclear transplantation.

• Why would a human clone lose his or her sense of individuality?
• How would cloning affect parenting?
• What are "infertile" couples and how could cloning help them?
• What are your concerns about cloning?
• How do you think that cloning will change humanity?